Many companies throughout the United States use the delivery services of the United States Postal Service (USPS) to deliver direct mail marketing materials to their customers and potential customers. A company might employ a blanket direct mail campaign if they wish to reach each household in a given area. However, a targeted direct mailing campaign may be more cost effective. Accordingly, many companies utilize information processing systems to determine a targeted mailing list of a subset of households in a given area in order to optimize the cost of the mailing and expected response rate for a direct mail campaign.
Targeting direct mail campaigns may utilize targeted marketing lists developed through U.S. Census Bureau data. In order to protect individual privacy, the census data is typically published as an aggregate or statistical calculation across a group of adjacent households defined as “block groups.” Each block group is a bounded area defined by the U.S. census Bureau and may contain several hundred to several thousand residents. Private data system vendors including PITNEY BOWES MAPINFO of Troy, N.Y. provide data manipulation tools using demographic and/or behavioral data referred to as psychographic characteristics at a block group level. For example, an entire block group could be assigned an aggregate demographic or psychographic profile with the understanding that such a profile would not be accurate for each individual in the group.
Individual companies typically maintain individual and/or household level profiles for their own customers and may use marketing data system tools with their own individual profile customer data to enhance targeting effectiveness. A common company level data set is the corresponding current customer mailing list. Such companies typically operate in accordance with published data privacy guidelines and are also subject to privacy laws restricting use of customer data in various jurisdictions. However, such companies may use block group level demographic/psychographic data in addition to individual profile/history data when creating a targeted marketing campaign. In certain circumstances such companies may use individual profile data to provide direct marketing services to third parties such as when co-marketing to its customers in appropriate circumstances.
Direct mail effectiveness depends on several factors including targeting the appropriate potential customers, providing an offer of sufficient value and using attractive design and content in the direct mail piece. Direct mail creation information processing systems now also provide at least a limited ability for providing personalized direct mail pieces using variable data printing. For example, the name of the targeted potential customer may be used in the advertising section of the direct mail piece to create a direct mail piece tailored for the individual potential customer. Because it is important that a potential customer know where the advertiser is located, direct mail pieces associated with a retail establishment often include the physical address, internet address and telephone contact information associated with the advertiser. Moreover, the direct mail piece may include a small static map for directing the potential customer to the advertiser retail location.
However, the information conveyed regarding the advertiser location is not dynamically tailored to the prospective customer. Because the space available for such maps on the direct mail piece is limited, such direct mail piece maps include very limited reference landmark information. Similarly, variable data printing systems used in creating direct mail pieces may not be configured to print variable data on any portion of the mail piece, but rather variable printing may be restricted to a subset of the direct mail piece. Additionally, direct mail pieces may be created using a first print process and then later addressed using a dedicated address printer. Such dedicated address printers may be configured to print only a subset of the area of the direct mail piece. Moreover, traditional direct mail piece creation systems do not make use of environmental data.
Accordingly, there are several disadvantages of currently available systems and methods for customizing direct mail pieces.